Senior Reporter
akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt
The Ministry of Health remains mum on a report from a medical lab that this country has its first confirmed case of Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV).
Last Sunday Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said while hMPV is here, there are so far no confirmed cases in this country.
But yesterday, an official from the St Augustine Medical Laboratory Limited (STAML) told Guardian Media, “I can confirm to you that we have diagnosed an hMPV case, and I can confirm as well that the diagnosis was in November.”
The official said, “I’ve just written to them stating that a case of hMPV was detected in November 2024 via a Nasopharyngeal swab sample using PCR lab analysis in our molecular medicine lab.”
The “them” the official referred to are the Ministry of Health and Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
Asked by Guardian Media why STAML took so long to report the diagnosis, the official explained, “There was no mandate to report such as this virus only gained significant attention very recently.
“We are a clinical lab so, therefore, testing samples such as those and many others are routine and only if a mandate is issued would we then send to a third party. Surveillance of this virus only came to concerns in this country in the past few days, I believe.”
The lab official could not provide details on the patient as they said the sample was merely sent by the patient’s doctor.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hMPV is one of the viruses that causes the common cold (upper respiratory infection). It usually makes people only mildly sick, but it can make some people very ill.
A surge in hMPV in China had raised fears of another Covid-like pandemic, however, health experts have since said that the virus is not like Covid and has been around for many years.
When Guardian Media contacted Minister Terrence Deyalsingh he said he had not seen any correspondence from STAML on the matter.
“Their normal lines of communication is with the CMO to report these things,” he said.
Minister Deyalsingh, however, urged the population to remain calm.
“CARPHA had said this clearly, that this is not pandemic material so please don’t scare the population. Because I had to refute what media was saying about China causing panic around the world. HMPV is not pandemic-causing. As I said in the press conference on Sunday, we have had cases in Trinidad before. It was isolated in 2001, it is all over the world. Secondary news sources scandalised the issue in China saying there is a state of emergency, and it was false,” he said.
A media release was subsequently sent out by the Health Ministry stating, “The public is advised that the hMPV is not a notifiable disease in Trinidad and Tobago at this time.”
A notifiable disease is one that, when diagnosed, requires health providers (usually by law) to report to state or local public health officials.
The release further stated, “It must be noted that the Minister of Health and the Chief Medical Officer have stated publicly that the hMPV is not new to the world, including the region of the Americas and Trinidad and Tobago, and has been detected worldwide as early as 2001.”
However, it did not address the issue of whether there is a confirmed case in T&T.
Guardian Media sent follow-up questions to CMO Dr Roshan Parasram, but we were advised by the Health Ministry to submit the questions to the Ministry via email.
HMPV is said to spread through direct contact between people, or when someone touches a contaminated surface. It can lead to a mild respiratory tract infection for most people which is usually indistinguishable from the flu. Symptoms include coughing, fever and congestion.
